Beautiful woman…are you representing yourself fully?

“Every fibre of my being came alive in that photoshoot and it just reminded me what I stand for and I stand for a woman who represents herself fully and steps into her element just as she is, authentically and without apology” Joanne Muturi

Joanne’s journey from; questioning everything about herself and facing cancer straight in the eye, to overcoming her illness, redefining herself and blooming into the awesome woman she is today, means she can now stand as a woman who represents herself fully.

Wow…what a statement.

But what would that mean for you? Do you represent yourself fully? If you had to think about it for a minute….what would that really mean?

For me, there are 3 ways to represent yourself fully that I’ve been taking my clients through and here’s my formula;

Know what you need in your heart to enable you to thrive

To have the courage to protect what you need

Stand in your space powerfully and with authority

1) Know what you need in your heart to enable you to thrive

So for instance, here’s mine. I worked these out a long time ago and over the years, the practical ways in which I honour these things change but they remain true even today.

I need freedom over the way I spend my time, I need my own space and peace for inner reflection/personal growth & I need a home for my family – oh and excellent coffee & blue skies

If I have those things, I thrive.

It’s completely personal and my clients all say different things;

One of my clients, a woman who runs her family business and has children says she needs;

What do you need to ensure you thrive? Get a pen and paper and start writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s rough, scribbly, neat, a mind map, pictures, it doesn’t matter how you do it, but feel into your heart and work out what you need to thrive.

2) To have the courage to protect what you need

Once you know what you need in order to thrive, what is then needed is the courage to protect it/ask for it/own it. This can be harder than it sounds!

One of my clients recently had to summon her courage to protect what she needed. A friend had overstepped boundaries and rather than letting the situation continue, she knew she was diminishing her light by not articulating what she needed.

So she did.

An uncomfortable conversation yes, but one that had positive outcomes for both parties.

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Do you ask for what you need to thrive? Do you question if it’s ok not to have it for a short time because of a commitment or a situation you find yourself in? If you’re not getting what you need to thrive right now, how could you get it? What needs to change?

So many questions I know, but in essence, it’s about giving yourself permission to make yourself happy, to demonstrate self love through looking after your ‘self’.

We are the only people who can protect what we need. The ones around us can’t do it, friends can’t do it, absolutely we are the only ones who can protect what we need and so many women I come across, find it so hard to articulate those very personal elements. It doesn’t take much thought though, it really doesn’t. Thought, care, some time to think…then you can start to discover what you need.

The last thing you need, to represent yourself fully, is to be proud of what you need, proud of how you ask for it and to protect it.

3) Stand in your space powerfully & with authority

And this is what I mean. My husband and I unschool our youngest daughter Livvie. We knew when she was born that we didn’t want her to go to school, but we couldn’t at that point articulate why or how we would help her grow and learn without formal lessons. We talked to people, joined groups, read, asked stupid questions, listened to what others were doing and then organised our family in a way that felt right for us.

Then and only then could we stand in that space powerfully and with authority, confident to articulate it, receive questions about it, stand by it.

The same with the things I need to thrive. I can stand in that space powerfully and articulate them with authority. The women I coach are the same, once they understand what they need, how they can ask for it, protect it, they can then stand powerfully in that place, representing themselves fully.

So there’s your starting point. That’s how you start to represent yourself fully and boy, when you do that – you’re like a tree firmly rooted to the ground, getting the nutrients you need and totally owning where you stand – that’s self love in a different level beautiful woman! And you completely deserve it.